Sunday Dare, the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, met with each of the 11 candidates for president yesterday in an exclusive meeting in Abuja, ahead of the eagerly anticipated elections for the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) board that will take place on Friday.
Although the meeting's specifics were vague, it's possible that they had something to do with electioneering in the midst of security threats and legal disputes before this Friday's election in Benin.
The meeting, according to FCT FA Chairman and presidential candidate Adam Mouktar Mohammed, was held in a convivial environment, and the candidates agreed to respect the election results.
“It was a welcome meeting and as we all know, the minister of sports is the leader of sports in Nigeria and we obliged the meeting as stakeholders and aspirants to have a dialogue because there were issues on the ground but it was a very good meeting,” Mouktar said
“ I think everybody comes away with a feeling that government is partnering the process in the right direction.
“ Of course, there are decisions that we expect the electoral committee to look at as well as advice from the security agencies.
“Of course, there’s a court order we all know and as law-abiding citizens, we would wait to see because we still have two days to go so that court order could be vacated.
“It’s an ongoing discussion and there’s no conclusion yet but we hope that at the end of the day, there will be a credible process and everybody will accept the process, and then football will begin to grow and ensure that everybody is on board,” he added.